Chapter 7

Qi Fei received news that Zhu Ming'en had been sent to the hospital because he had hit his head and self-harmed in the detention center until he fell into a coma.

Qi Fei stood outside the ward, looking at Zhu Ming'en, who was wrapped in bandages and hadn't woken up yet, his brow furrowed.

What made him anxious wasn't Zhu Ming'en's physical condition, but his mental condition. His abnormal behavior could completely be used to make a fuss about mental illness during the second trial.

Logically speaking, the result of the first trial was favorable to Zhu Ming'en; he had no reason and no need to do this.

"Hey? Xiao Lu, do you know why Zhu Ming'en self-harmed?" Qi Fei asked the police officer guarding the door.

"I've seen a ghost," Xiao Lu muttered.

"Tsk, you just answer the question, why are you complaining?" Qi Fei knew Xiao Lu had always been honest; this didn't sound like something he would say.

"No, no, Brother Fei, I meant Zhu Ming'en claimed he saw a ghost when he hit his head."

"Hmm? How did it get weird again? What ghost did he see?"

"We don't know either. Ever since he was detained, he's mentioned it several times, saying he can't stay in this place and wants to get out. The trial isn't over yet, so we can only act according to the rules. He wouldn't sleep at night, walking around and talking to himself. We thought it was just anxiety. Who knew that yesterday he suddenly started hitting his head, the kind where he hit it to death. When we found him, his face was covered in blood."

"Do you know what he was saying when he talked to himself?" Qi Fei asked.

Xiao Lu scratched his head: "It's just a bit funny. The content was about the same, but it had nothing to do with the case. He kept saying that monster had come back. I'm afraid his brain really has a problem."

Qi Fei didn't think it was funny at all. Monster, he had heard of it; this was the dream Zhong Kui told him about Zhu Ming'en.

He looked at the unconscious Zhu Ming'en and remembered their last conversation. That time, Zhu Ming'en finally admitted he was the real murderer who killed Chen Xiaojing in the face of sufficient evidence.

He tracked the suspicious Zhu Qi and discovered Chen Xiaojing, Zhu Qi's mistress. Zhu Ming'en didn't hesitate to lift the rusty axe and hack at Chen Xiaojing.

Those limbs might have been hacked off while Chen Xiaojing was still alive.

For Qi Fei, this wasn't the cruelest part. The cruelest part was that the Zhu Ming'en in front of him had no remorse.

"That bitch deserved to die, and Zhu Qi deserved to die too. I should have hacked him together with her back then."

"Your dad has already admitted to helping you move the body and taking the blame to flee."

"Hmph, that's what he should have done," Zhu Ming'en gritted his teeth and said.

"If you think they both deserve to die, then what are you afraid of?" Qi Fei blurted out. He remembered the dream Zhong Kui told him about, Zhu Ming'en's dream.

Zhu Ming'en froze. There was finally fear in those hateful eyes—the fear of being chased by a monster in a flood.

At that time, Qi Fei guessed that Zhu Ming'en's nightmare hadn't been cured by Zhong Kui.

In the quiet ward corridor, the rhythmic sound of high heels tapping on the ground came.

Zhong Kui appeared in front of Qi Fei again.

"What are you here for?"

"I'm here to exorcise demons because I was asked to."

"Who asked you to come?"

"Didn't Chen Youwei ask me to come?"

"If you mess around, whether you're a half-immortal or not, I'll bring you to justice." Qi Fei stood up like a dog whose territory had been violated, warning her with his fur standing on end.

"What are you thinking? That little bit of money from Chen Youwei isn't worth me getting involved in a murder case." Zhong Kui smiled dismissively, "I'm here to solve your trouble." She still had that careless, arrogant look, casually tearing off a sticky note at the door of the ward to play with.

"Hmm? You mean, you're saying he's faking it?"

"Hmph, when he came to find me last time, I discovered that this person had no remorse at all. His inner demon was driven away by me. If it can recur, it's too much of an insult to my level."

"Then I don't understand. Logically speaking, the result of the first trial is already cheap enough for him. Does he still need to rely on playing crazy to escape punishment?"

Zhong Kui's ethereal and charming eyes looked at Qi Fei and said: "If he were content, he wouldn't have let his father take the blame."

"Are you a roundworm in his stomach? You know so much."

"He is a very typical..." Zhong Kui blurted out, but for some reason, she suddenly stopped, then turned her head, "Indeed, he doesn't need a spirit medium; he needs treatment." Immediately, Zhong Kui leaned close and whispered a few words to Qi Fei.

Accompanied by that sweet, greasy fragrance, the words were finished, and the paper was folded into an exquisite flower. Zhong Kui threw it away casually and left the hospital under Qi Fei's approving gaze.

In the early morning, Zhu Ming'en was awakened in his sleep by the sound of several people discussing.

Opening his eyes, a doctor and nurse in white coats were gathered in front of his hospital bed. Suddenly, someone unlocked the handcuffs on his hospital bed, put him in a strange piece of clothing, with long sleeves wrapped behind him, binding him so he couldn't move. Several people helped him into a wheelchair and pushed him out of the ward.

"Where are we going?" Zhu Ming'en asked uneasily.

No one answered him. The hospital corridor was very long, leading all the way to a quiet corner, and finally, they stopped at the door of a room marked "Electrotherapy Room."

After a simple handover, Zhu Ming'en was pushed in.

The metal headband connected to strange equipment, which made him completely panicked.

"What are you going to do to me?" he shouted.

"You have already developed severe hallucinations, belonging to functional fantasy disorder, and need treatment through electric shock." The doctor's cold voice came through the mask. As soon as the words fell, two nursing staff had already lifted Zhu Ming'en up and pulled him toward the electric shock chair.

"No, you made a mistake, I'm not sick!" Zhu Ming'en struggled desperately, twisting his body and shouting.

"Sigh, every person who has gone crazy says that," a nursing staff muttered, looking indifferent.

"I'm faking it, no treatment needed! Hurry up and call my lawyer!"

With two "clacks," the leather straps on the treatment chair firmly fixed Zhu Ming'en's body.

The electric shock equipment lit up with red and green indicator lights, making a terrible charging sound. Zhu Ming'en pleaded helplessly: "I beg you, believe me, I deliberately said I saw a monster just to avoid going to jail. Actually, I didn't see anything. I confess, I'll say everything. You call the judge, call the police, I'll say everything. Chen Xiaojing was killed by me, the dismemberment was done by me and my dad together. I'm willing to go to jail, I'm willing to apologize to Chen Xiaojing's parents..."

The sound of the equipment ringing stopped abruptly.

The dim room suddenly lit up.

The "doctor" took off his mask and looked at Zhu Ming'en with a cold gaze.

"You, you are Officer Qi?!" Zhu Ming'en was stunned.

"Your words just now will be submitted to the court as supplementary evidence, and a mental assessment will also be done for you. Whether you go to prison or a mental hospital depends on your own fortune," Qi Fei said with no small amount of disgust.

"You lied to me?!" Zhu Ming'en changed from terror to anger, then clamored, "This is inducement! It's inducement!"

"You were the one who lied to us first, weren't you?" Qi Fei said coldly.